How Intelligent AV Design Can Save You Money
Intelligent AV Design involves custom guidance instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Your AV partner can help you make strategic decisions.
Meeting planners and producers have two needs. They want their shows to (1) meet budgetary constraints and (2) go off without a hitch. In line with these goals, they may share AV design specs and other guidelines with their AV vendor or with a variety of AV vendor contenders. These vendors, in turn, often provide bids and produce shows that align exactly with the provided specs. That’s where a lot of problems often surface.
Sometimes the specs are spot on. Other times, the specs are based on last year’s show, which was held in a different venue with different attendees and completely different objectives and needs. For example, the specs might include too small a projector or too large a screen. Or video projection that interferes with audience sight lines. Or use of a sound system that blocks screens, interferes with the room layout, or can’t be heard by people in the back of the room.
It’s easy to check the “spec” box. The more difficult task is questioning the rationale behind those specs, evaluating competing factors, and asking key questions to determine the best course of action for the goals meeting planners and producers hope to achieve. That’s Intelligent AV Design in a nutshell.
The Principles of Intelligent AV Design
Intelligent AV Design involves a series of collaborative discussions followed by smart planning to determine the most efficient path going forward. It’s not about filling a room with bleeding-edge technology or following trends needlessly. Instead, it’s about challenging the “this is the way we do it” mentality that some organizations get caught up in and optimizing client dollars by focusing on goals and maximizing what’s in the room.
For example, we recently produced a large general session and then split the space into two breakout rooms the next day. The client originally planned to split the space one-third front/two-thirds back, which would have required substantial equipment tear down and time-consuming and expensive equipment setup on day two. We had a collaborative discussion with the client to introduce an alternative that minimized time and expense. In reversing the layout (two-thirds front/one-third back), we were able to transform the space into two breakout rooms in just 20 minutes.
As another example, some shows include pick-up shots (e.g., a top sales performer who comes to the podium to accept an award). The lighting may be perfect for the stage but problematic for audience spotlights – the award winner may need to be lit with a second fixture, or house lights may need to compensate for poor lighting. With Intelligent AV Design, an AV partner can identify lighting that can handle both sets of requirements and create a seating plan, eliminating the need for a second set of fixtures and reducing overall costs.
Intelligent AV Design Makes Good Business Sense
In the industry, it’s not uncommon to produce the same event year after year even as attendee numbers grow exponentially and the goals of the event evolve or change altogether. Producing the same show year after year is the easiest possible route for an AV vendor to take, but the client is left at a disadvantage and attendees are left wanting more.
Intelligent AV Design involves custom guidance instead of rote RFP response. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, your AV production partner should make Intelligent AV Design core to the way they do business. That means they should always look at each show individually, listen well, reevaluate your goals from the ground up, and guide your team in making strategic decisions from start to finish.
Why Total Show Technology?
TST is the total show production solution for anyone who hosts, plans, manages, or produces events, meetings, and trade shows. We own the Pacific Southwest market and travel with our clients all across the country. Our clients have relied on us to deliver audio, video, lighting, equipment rental, and show production for conventions, corporate meetings and events, and trade shows since 1996.
Whether you’re looking for audio visual support or advanced event technologies that enable you to deliver your message effectively, we help your shows go off without a hitch and always make you look good. In an industry where almost anything can go wrong, we make sure everything goes right.
Let’s have a conversation! Call us at 702-897-8508, email us at sales@totalshowtech.com, or visit www.totalshowtech.com/contact.
